Broiled Catfish and Crawfish Ettouffle

Etouffe

• 8 oz butter
  
• 6 oz rice flour
  
• 1 qt shellfish stock
  
• 2 cups cleaned crawfish tails
  
• 1 cup white wine
  
• 1/2 cup very finally diced onion
  
• 1/3 cup finely diced celery
  
• 1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper
  
• 2 tsp Thyme leafs
  
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire
  
• tabasco
  

Begin by melting the butter in a two quart sauce pot. Whisk in the rice flour and increase the heat to medium. Let this roux cook, stirring occasionally to make a burnt roux. When finished the roux should be the color of peanut butter. Add in the vegetables and sweat for 1 minute. Add in the wine and cook until the wine has cooked out the alcohol has evaporated. Stir in the stock, thyme, bay leaf and Worcestershire. Simmer the etouffe gently for 20 minutes and season with salt and pepper. Add in the crawfish to just warm through along with a dash of tabasco. Served over top of broiled catfish.

CatfishSoften 1 stick of butterBrine the 6 catfish fillets in salted water for 5 minutes.Remove from the brine and pat dry.Pre heat the broiler to 500 degrees.Place the catfish on a foil lined baking pan. Lightly butter the foil. Place the catfish on top of the foil and smear each fillet with 1/2 TBSP of softened butter. Place the pan under the broiler on the top shelf and cook for 4-5 minutes until the fillets are cooked thru just until the flesh will give way and not spring back. Place each fillet over hot steamy rice. Smother each fillet with etouffe sauce making sure to get crawfish tails on each plate.

Chef Josh Feathers